Conversational understanding systems receive user input, typically in the form of natural language and then interpret the input to determine an appropriate response or agent action to perform. Often, conversational understanding systems receive spoken input from a user, although alternatives are possible.
Conversational understanding systems are incorporated in many other systems such as a personal digital assistant (e.g., the CORTANA® software and services from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., the GOOGLE NOW® software and services from Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., and the SIRI® software and services from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) or search engines. Conversational understanding systems are used by these and other types of systems to receive input and instructions for performing various tasks such as performing a search, sending a message, scheduling an appointment, booking a reservation, etc.
It is important for conversational units to accurately determine what a user wants. But there are many potential sources of error that can lead to a conversational understanding unit providing incorrect results or taking an undesired action. For example, a user may not speak clearly, may mispronounce a word, may misspell a word, may use the wrong word, or may use a word that has multiple meanings. One technique to address these errors is to request feedback or confirmation from users before taking any action. But users often find responding to these requests tedious and irritating.
It is with respect to these and other general considerations that embodiments have been made. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the embodiments should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background.